Softball sweeps Wilmington 5-4, 5-3 in a home doubleheader

ADA — The Ohio Northern softball team improved to 5-1 in Ohio Athletic Conference play after a 5-4, 5-3 sweep against Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon.

The Basics

• ONU won the opener 5-4 and took the second game 5-3.
• Records: Ohio Northern (14-8 overall, 5-1 OAC), Wilmington (13-10-1 overall, 1-5 OAC).
• Venue: Durbin-Hileman Field - Ada, Ohio.

Game 1 - W, 5-4

• Fifth-year senior Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) singled home senior Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic) to tie the game at 1 in the first inning.
• Junior Mariana Alejandro (Gibsonburg) doubled in the bottom of the second inning and sophomore Allie Wilson (Wapakoneta) scored on a groundout in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 3-1.
• Wilmington answered with two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth inning to claim a 4-3 lead.
• Junior Ashley Lenser (Brookeville) singled up the middle to score freshman Courtney Werner (Plainfield, Ill./Central) to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
• Motylinski was then walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, scoring Lenser to take the lead back, 5-4.
• Lenser threw a complete game, striking out four, to improve to 6-1 on the season.
• ONU out-hit WC 10-9.

Game 2 - W, 5-3

• Alejandro singled home Wilson to tie the game at one in the bottom of the second inning.
• Lenser then singled home junior Taylor Hilty (Kettering/Fairmont) and freshman Carlie Schroeder (Wapakoneta) to make the score 3-1 after two innings.
• The Quakers cut the lead to one in the sixth inning, but Alejandro responded with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make the lead 5-2.
• Wilmington scored once more in the top of the seventh, but the Polar Bears held on to complete the sweep.
• Alejandro had two hits and three RBIs to lead the Polar Bears.
• Senior Kayla Runyon had four strikeouts in the circle and improved to 4-5 on the season.
• WC out-hit ONU 10-9.

Notables

• Motylinski now has 22 home runs in her career at Ohio Northern, which moves her into fourth place in school history.
• She also has 132 career base hits and 87 career RBIs.
• Griffin had one hit on the day and now has 98 for her career. She needs just three more to become the 46th member of ONU's 100-Hit Club.
• Motylinski, Rosser, and Wilson lead Ohio Northern in batting through 22 games this season with averages of .435, .423 and .379, respectively.
• Lenser is also 6-1 with 39 strikeouts and a 2.39 ERA in 44 innings in the circle.
• ONU is now 39-7 all-time against WC.
• Ohio Northern is in its 57th season of softball. The Polar Bears are 986-668-4 all-time, a winning percentage of .595.
• Seventh-year head coach Jackie Price is now 168-100-1 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .626.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader against John Carroll at Durbin-Hileman Stadium.